NYC Ironman Athletes Might Really Have to Swim Through Sh*t

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An athlete in much cleaner waters at Kurrawa Beach in Australia.Photo: Matt Roberts/2011 Getty Images

A sewer line break in Westchester Thursday caused a massive sewage discharge into the Hudson River, jeopardizing the swim leg of New York City’s inaugural Ironman triathlon, scheduled Saturday. “We’re not messing with water quality,” race organizer John Korff told Businessweek. “It is what it is — it’s either yes or no. It depends which way the water is flowing.” But Thursday evening health officials said the Hudson River was likely “clean enough” following the sewage dump in Sleepy Hollow, about twenty miles north of the finish line for the 2.4 mile swim in the Hudson. Whatever unsanitary, possibly diseased things in the sewage have been chlorinated, “but it’s still sewage, so we don’t want anyone having direct contact,” said county Health Department spokesman Heather McGill. Remarked 29-year-old (possible) participant Chris McCallum: “I was concerned enough about the water quality of the Hudson already.”